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Peter Hain: Bloody Sunday pursuit waste of police time Peter Hain: Bloody Sunday soldiers should get amnesty
(about 9 hours later)
Pursuing British soldiers involved in what became known as Bloody Sunday is a "waste" of police time, ex-Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has said. The former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has called for an amnesty for British soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday killings.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Hain said the current focus should be on attacks from dissident IRA groups. Fourteen civilians died at a civil rights march in Londonderry in 1972 after soldiers opened fire.
His intervention came after it emerged UK governments had written to more than 180 republican paramilitary suspects to say they would not be prosecuted. Mr Hain's comments follow the disclosure that several republican paramilitary suspects were sent letters which gave them assurance that they were not being sought by police.
The Labour MP said dealing with the past must also include Bloody Sunday. He said a balanced approach was needed.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland launched a murder investigation after the Saville Inquiry's 2010 report into the Bloody Sunday killings was heavily critical of the Army. "If the job it seems to me of politicians and political leadership is to say we need to look to the future and if you're going to do that and if you have, as has been the case, addressed the question of former terrorists involved in activity, then it should apply even-handedly right across the board to members of the British security forces as well," Mr Hain said.
Thirteen civilians were killed in Londonderry in 1972, while the fourteenth victim died from wounds five months later. Northern Ireland's Justice Minister David Ford criticised Mr Hain's comments.
Mr Hain said: "Diverting police time to investigate Bloody Sunday soldiers or crimes from the Troubles seems a waste when the priority today should surely be tracking down the tiny, but dangerous, attacks from dissident IRA groups, as well as facilitating ordinary, plain community safety." "It almost looks like Peter Hain, having played a part in one sort of pseudo amnesty, is now suggesting another kind of amnesty to try and ingratiate himself with different people in the community," Mr Ford said.
'Contents of letters' "I think we saw what happened when John Larkin, the attorney general, suggested we draw a line under the past - it was almost universally rejected.
He added that the idea that senior politicians in Northern Ireland were not aware of such letters was "risible". "Yes, there are real difficulties in getting evidence when you go back that far, but that doesn't men that we should abandon the opportunity if there is an opportunity in some cases."
Mr Hain, who served as Northern Ireland Secretary from 2005 to 2007, said dealing with the issue paved the way for the IRA declaring an end to its war and the decommissioning of weapons. Mr Hain, who served as Northern Ireland Secretary from 2005 to 2007, said dealing with the issue of so-called "On the Runs" paved the way for the IRA declaring an end to its war and the decommissioning of weapons.
Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson threatened to resign unless an inquiry was launched and the letters rescinded. A judge is examining the entire issue but the letters remain in effect. It was revealed earlier this week, that John Downey, who was accused of killing four soldiers in the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing would not be prosecuted because he had been received a letter to say he would not face trial.
Mr Hain said: "There is no suggestion that the contents of the letters to those 'On the Runs' were cleared with key politicians of all parties, or the details of the scheme shared, but the idea that they did not know anything about them is risible. A judge ruled that an official assurance given in error meant Mr Downey - who had denied murder - could not be prosecuted.
"Even when the letters were in the public domain, there was still misrepresentation, whether wilfully or not, about what the letters sent between 2001 and 2012 actually said and meant - and this process caused the victims even greater pain." The decision could affect 186 other people wanted for terror-related offences in the Troubles who received similar assurances.
A man accused of killing four soldiers in the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing will not be prosecuted because he was given a guarantee he would not face trial. Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson has threatened to resign unless an inquiry was launched and the letters rescinded. A judge is examining the entire issue but the letters remain in effect.
It followed a judge's ruling that an official assurance given in error meant John Downey - who had denied murder - could not be prosecuted. Mr Hain said the system had been operated "totally lawfully".
The decision may affect 186 people wanted for terror-related offences in the Troubles who received similar assurances. "There was nothing furtive or sordid, it did not involved an immunity, it did not involve a get out of jail free card, it did not involve an amnesty.
"It was the normal criminal justice process whereby if somebody wanted to inquire if they were still wanted by the authorities and the police, then they could go to, in this case, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and ask, do you still have an interest in me?
"The PSNI then investigated it under the supervision of the law officers and the attorney general.
"If there was no interest in them they got a letter saying so.
"The last few lines of that letter said if anything else comes to light, or words to that effect, or if there is any request for extradition, because these people were all outside UK jurisdiction, then that's a different matter entirely."
The PSNI launched a murder investigation after the Saville Inquiry's 2010 report into the Bloody Sunday killings was heavily critical of the Army.
Thirteen civilians were killed in Londonderry in 1972, while the 14th victim died from wounds five months later.
Last month police appealed to the one thousand Saville Inquiry witnesses - soldiers and civilians - to make statements as part of a criminal investigation.
The nationalist SDLP said Mr Hain's latest comments on the issue were "inevitable and predictable".
Foyle MP Mark Durkan said: "Those who have stood over the scheme revealed in the High Court case have claimed that it doesn't imply an amnesty, and that everybody really knew everything about it.
"Yet now, one of its authors is saying that the fact of the scheme should mean amnesty for everybody and anybody in relation to anything."